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University of Southern California
University of Southern California
History

Faculty

Vanessa Schwartz

Professor of History

Contact Information
E-mail: vschwart@usc.edu
Phone: (213)740-8494
Office: SOS 170

LINKS
Curriculum Vitae
Visual Studies Graduate Certificate
VSGC Faculty Page
 

Biographical Sketch

Vanessa R. Schwartz is Professor of History, Art History and Film and directs the Visual Studies Graduate Certificate. An historian on modern visual culture, she was trained in Modern European History with a concentration on France and urban culture at Princeton (Phi Beta Kappa, 1986) and UC Berkeley where she received her Phd in 1993. The author of It’s So French! Hollywood, Paris and the Making of Cosmopolitan Film Culture (University of Chicago, 2007) and Spectacular Realities: Early Mass Culture in fin-de-siècle Paris (University of California, 1998), she is now working the history of “the jet age” and is writing, for Oxford University Press, "A Very Short Introduction to Modern France." She has also co-edited two volumes, Cinema and the Invention of Modern Life (California, 1995) and The Nineteenth Century Visual Culture Reader (Routledge, 2004). She co-edited a special issue of Urban History (Cambridge, 2006) with her colleague, Phil Ethington, called “Urban Icons” which includes a multi-media companion.

Education

  • B.A. History, Princeton University, 6/1986
  • M.A. History, University of California, Berkeley, 5/1989
  • Ph.D. History, University of California, Berkeley, 5/1993

Academic Appointment, Affiliation, and Employment History

  • Professor, History and Art History, University of Southern California, 1/1/2007-  
  • Associate Professor of History, University of Southern California, 1/1/2000-  
  • Associate Professor of History, The American University, Washington, D.C., 1/1/1999-1/1/2000  
  • Assistant Professor of History, The American University, Washington D.C., 1/1/1993-1/1/1999  

Description of Research

Summary Statement of Research Interests
Professor Schwartz is a historian of modern visual culture, whose research and writing in the past decade has concentrated on the emergence of film in the crucible of the urban culture of late nineteenth century Paris. Her interests reach across fields into art history, urban studies, and cinema studies. Her new book, "'It's So French': Hollywood, Paris and the Making of Cosmopolitan Film Culture" (University of Chicago Press, 2007) looks at film culture in the 1950s between France and America in order to re-think the history of the globalization of culture. Professor Schwartz co-edited a special issue of Urban History with Phil Ethington, called "Urban Icons" which includes a multi-media version of the issue. She is organizing a conference on photojournalism to be held in late Spring 2008 and is writing a book about "the jet-age." She directs the Visual Studies Graduate Certificate.
Research Keywords
France, urban, visual culture, film, twentieth century, transatlantic culture, entertainment, aviation and history of transportation and technology
Research Specialties
Modern Visual Culture, especially film; Modern Europe, France; Urban History, Paris, Aviation, Jets, Airports.

Funded Research

Contracts and Grants Awarded
  • Digital Dove Project (California Council for the Humanities), Covenant House, $80,000, 6/1/2007-  
  • Caught In the Act: History of Photojournalism Conference (Borchard Foundation), Vanessa Schwartz, $35,000, 2008-2009   
USC Funding
  • Graduate Dean Funding. Grant-Writing Workshop: Organized and Executed a day-long intensive grant-writing workshop for graduate students in the Visual Studies Graduate Certificate (although open to other students in the College)., $6,800, Fall 2008   
  • Shoah Foundation Grant. Teaching with the Oral Testimonies: With the help of a graduate assistant, I culled materials from the Shoah Foundation to use in classes I teach, not related to the Holocaust., $5,000, Fall 2008   

Affiliations with Research Centers, Labs, and Other Institutions

  • Visual Studies Research Lab, Co-Director,http://usc.edu/visualstudies
  • Visualizing the Past Project, Director,http://www.usc.edu/visualstudies

Conferences and Other Presentations

Conference Presentations
  • "Comment on Celebrity", Celebrity in Nineteenth Century Europe, Comment, , NYU, Spring 2007   
Other Presentations
  • ""The Cannes Film Festival and the Origins of Paparazzi Photography"", Getty Research Institute, Works in Progress Series , Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, 2007-2008   
  • ""The Cannes Film Festival" ", Invited Lecture, LA Institute for the Humanities, Los Angeles, 2007-2008   
  • ""The Long Half-Life of Nineteenth Century Paris" ", Invited Lecture, Art History, Nineteenth-Century Studies, UBC, Vancouver, 2007-2008   
  • "Film Festivals: Cannes", Panel Participant, Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Philadelphia, 2007-2008   
  • ""The Spectacle of the Dead"", Special Lecture, Vienna Museum, Vienna, 6/2007  
  • "It's So French", Invited Lecture, William and Mary, American Studies, Williamsburg, 4/2007  
  • "Seeing Past History as Usual", Historical Institute, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 4/2007  
  • "Plenary Comment", Transport, Technologie et Mobilite, T2M, Paris, 9/2006  

Publications

Book
  • Schwartz, V. R. A Very Short Introduction: Modern France. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Schwartz, V. R. (2008). French Translation of "It's So French!". Editions Complexe, Paris.
  • Schwartz, V. R. (2007). It's So French! Hollywood, Paris and the Making of Cosmopolitan Film Culture. Chicago and London: It's So French! Hollywood, Paris and the Making of Cosmopolitan Film Culture/University of Chicago Press.
  • Schwartz, V. R., Przyblyski, J. (2005). The Nineteenth Century Visual Culture Reader. London, UK / New York, NY: The Nineteenth Century Visual Culture Reader/Routledge.
  • Schwartz, V. R. (1998). Spectacular Realities: Early Mass Culture in fin-de-siècle Paris, University of California Press, 1998. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Schwartz, V. R. (1995). Co-Editor, with Leo Charney: Cinema and the Invention of Modern Life, University of California Press, 1995. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Book Chapter
  • Schwartz, V. R. (2007). Film and History in Sage Handbook to Film Studies. pp. pp.199-215.
  • Schwartz, V. R. (2007). Guide to Graduate Student Dissertation Writing, "Bowling for Dollars: On Grant-Writing". American Historical Association.
  • Schwartz, V. R. (2007). "Massenpresse und Spektakel: Der Pariser Leichauhaus im Fin de Siècle" in Wener Michael Schwarz, Margarethe Szeless and Lisa Wogenstein eds., Ganz Unten, Die Entdeckung des Elends (Vienna, Vien Museum, 2007) p. 53-59. Vienna: Ganz Unten.
Journal Article
  • Schwartz, V. R. (2006). Urban Icons. Urban History/Cambridge University Press. Vol. Vol. 33 (No. 1), pp. May 2006.
  • Schwartz, V. R. (2006). Afterword: The Promise and Perils of Visual Culture's Big Tent. Visual Resources. Vol. Vol. XXII (No. 1), pp. March 2006, pp. 81-85.
  • Schwartz, V. R. (2001). Walter Benjamin for Historians. American Historical Review/Indiana University. Vol. v.106, pp. n.5 1721-1743..

Multimedia Scholarship and Creative Works

  • Multi-Media Journal, "Urban Icons" is a multi-media web project about cities and visual culture. Please see the link at Also co-designed the creation of a multi-media companion to the special issue, currently available for review at http://journals.cambridge.org/urbanicons, 2005-2006   

Honors and Awards

  • Social Science Research Council DPDF Workshop, 5/1/2007-  
  • USC Zumberge Research and Innovation Fund Award, Visual Culture Project, 2004-2005  
  • Gamma Sigma Alpha, Professor of the Year, 2004  
  • USC Center for Interdisciplinary Research, 2002-2003  
  • USC Associates Award For Excellence In Teaching, Popular Culture/Visual Culture, 2001-2002  
  • Fellow, Humanitie Research Institute, UCI, 1997  
  • Fulbright Award, Fellowship, 1990-1991  

Service to the University

Administrative Appointments
  • Director, Visual Studies Graduate Certificate, 9/1/2006-  
Committees
  • Member, University Research Committee, 2006-2007   

Service to the Profession

Committees
  • Chair, Founding Curator, AHA Film Festival, 2006-2007   
  • Member, Program Committee, AHA, 2006-2007   
Editorships and Editorial Boards
  • Editorial Board Member, American Historical Review, 2004-2007  
Professional Memberships
  • College Art Association, 2004-  
  • American History Association, 1993-  
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